16 OED Words That Became Obscure (Including Bransle, the Twerk of 1662)

In a moment of cultural serendipity (or, depending on how you look at it, calamity), Oxford Dictionaries Online just announced that “twerk” made the list of new entries to its quarterly dictionary update. While the release of the update list reliably incites horror at the debasement of the venerable Oxford Dictionary institution, not to mention the English language in general, it is important to realize the difference between Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO)—a flexible, web-only collection focused on current English usage—and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), a historical record of the core of English, printed and bound on high-quality paper, from which words are never removed.

However, while most people respect the OED for enshrining the respectable, time-tested, stable fundament of English, they enjoy it for preserving the odd, rare, and obsolete, exactly the category of entry for which “twerk” is likely headed. Here are 16 words from the latest ODO update, matched up with 16 words from the OED that had short, obscure lives.

1. Twerk, Bransle

ODO - twerk, v.: “dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.”

5. A/W, M.B.

ODO - A/W, abbrev.: “autumn/winter (denoting or relating to fashion designed for the autumn and winter seasons of a particular year).”

OED - M.B., n.: Initialism for “Mark of the Beast,” used in “M.B. waistcoat”
1874 (W.E. Gladstone) “[The undivided clerical waistcoat] was deemed so distinctly Popish, that it acquired the nickname of ‘The Mark of the Beast’; and..among the tailors..was familiarly known as ‘the M.B. waistcoat’.”

6. Fauxhawk, Bullhead

ODO - fauxhawk, n.: “a hairstyle in which a section of hair running from the front to the back of the head stands erect, intended to resemble a Mohican haircut (in which the sides of the head are shaved).”

OED - bullhead, n.: “a mass of curled or frizzled hair worn over the forehead”
1672 (Andrew Marvell) “To trick up the good old Bishop in a yellow Coif and a Bulls-head, that he may..appear in Fashion.”

7. Grats, Sdeign

8. Hackerspace, Anythingarian

ODO - hackerspace, n.: “a place in which people with an interest in computing or technology can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge.”

OED - anythingarian, n.: “One who professes no creed in particular; an indifferentist.”
1704 (Thomas Brown) “Such bifarious anythingarians, that always make their interest the standard of their religion.”

12. Srsly, 'Cavy

OED - ‘cavy, n. & adj.: short for “cavalier.”
1650 (Mutatus Polemo) “The Cavies being at that time ready to turn anything, except Roundhead, for some money to be chirpingly drunk.”

13. Babymoon, Chop-loge

ODO - babymoon, n.: “a relaxing or romantic holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born; a period of time following the birth of a baby during which the new parents can focus on establishing a bond with their child.”

OED - chop-loge, n.: short for chop-logic, one who chops logic, “a contentious, sophistical arguer”
1542 (Udall’s translation of Erasmus) “He..with lacke of vitailles brought those chop-logues or greate pratlers as lowe as dogge to the bow.”

14. Balayage, Frizilation

ODO - balayage, n.: “a technique for highlighting hair in which the dye is painted on in such a way as to create a graduated, natural-looking effect.”

OED - frizilation, n.: the act of frizzling the hair
1567 “Her chief and comon exercise..was, to force a frizilacion of her haire.”

15. Buzzworthy, Coleworts

ODO - buzzworthy, adj.: “likely to arouse the interest and attention of the public, either by media coverage or word of mouth.”

OED - coleworts, n.: old news. Literally, a cabbage-like plant. From the proverb for “old news,” “coleworts twice sodden.”
1644 (Chirologia) “It being better sometimes to use a licentious and unwarrantable motion, then alwayes to obtrude the same Coleworts.”

16. Unlike, Unlike

ODO - unlike, v.: “withdraw one’s liking or approval of (a web page or posting on a social media website that one has previously liked).”

OED - unlike, v.: “to give up liking; to cease to like”
1761 (Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph) “My heart is not in a disposition to love... I cannot compel it to like, and unlike, and like anew at pleasure.”

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